Strife/Issue 02
Issue 02 is the second issue of Volume 01 of Strife, It was written by CamTheWoot and was published on June 12th, 2014. ---- Issue 02 Previous: Issue 01 Next: Issue 03 ---- Rook ---- "So, I hope you'll be able to get Vincent up here without any issue, he gave Patrick a rather hard time earlier on." A tired female voice, echoed through the small office. "Yes ma'am, I will try my best." Maurice Rook replied. Although perhaps he would go easier if you didn't try to force him Rook, was a dusted looking man, of African decent, over 6 feet tall. Towering over the usually short members of the Myers family. He looked rather grizzly, with short black hair and an even short unkempt beard. His tattered clothes did not help soothe his rough demeanor, a tattered, grey tweed jacket, that most would agree was too big for him covered a dirty white shirt, hastily tucked into black work trousers. "Very good Maurice." She said in an indeliberately sardonic tone. She looked away from him, picked up a blue biro pen from the side of her desk and began writing in a small logbook, although Rook couldn't make out exactly what it what she was scribbling, so incredibly quickly. She looked back up at him after a solid minute, with a unimpressed look about her "Are you still here?" She sighed. "I'm sorry ma'am, I'll go and fetch him!" He jolted, quickly leaving through the door, mumbling inaudibly to himself as he closed it behind him. He emerged from the tower he had previously been called to, into a small courtyard. "Christ alive, it's going to be bucketing it down," he said to himself, gazing up at the clouded sky above him. He walked over to a small door, held in the side of an opposite building and opened it, placing himself in an unlit tunnel, eventually bringing himself to a steel door. "Here it goes, I'm going to regret this," he thought to himself. "Mister Myers!" He shouted in, knocking on the door. A long pause came from the other side. "Come on in Rook." He opened to door and walked into a familiar prison cell. Vincent sat with his feet up on the desk, placing a bookmark into his book and placing it down beside him. "Mister Myer-" "Rook how many times do I have to tell you? Please call me Vincent!" He said in his strange smooth way of speaking, his heavy Irish accent only complimenting it. As many time as you like, it still makes me uncomfortable, he mused. "Sorry Vincent." "Anyway, you must have meandered to my lair with some reason, eh? What's up?" "Rowena has sent me to escort you to her office." "You're Rowena's escort now? Huh... Well she did always like tall guys." Vincent snickered "Vincent I must prot-" "Relax Rookie, it's a joke. A harmless jest." He grinned "So, tell me... What would happen if I chose not to go with you? Do you have permission to implement force?" "I was never told not to but I'd sooner go back to Rowena empty handed than harm you." "Heh, implying you could harm me." "I'd snap you like a twig," Rook laughed. "Hmm, so I fear. Well, did Rowena ask you herself, or was it one of her lackeys? Patrick maybe?" "She asked me herself" he said starring at Vincent, the two locked eyes upon a rare occasion, being so rare due to Vincent's distaste towards eye contact. However at this point Vincent saw it necessary to scope Rook. "Oh go on then," he said getting out of his chair. "I trust you have no choice in the matter, just doing your job and all that." "Yes sir." "Please, dispense with the formalities, for they're wasted on me." Vincent said as he placed his hand on a green barber jacket hung between two bookshelves. "Is it chilly enough?" "I'd say so." "Alright then, thanks." He swung the jacket on, over his untucked white striped shirt. "Well... lead the way!" The two of them walked out the door and back into the courtyard. "You alright Vincent? I heard you got into a scuffle with Patrick this morning?" Said Rook as they continued their journey. "Yeah I'm absolutely fine mate. He just - kinda jumped me that's all." "Mind if I ask what happened?" "Meh, any knob who wakes someone up at six in the morning and then rattles on about taking medication deserves a hell of a lot more than he got." "You haven't been taking your medication?" "Don't you dare start." He rasped as the two of them reached the same door Rook had emerged from earlier. "So what do you think she wants now?" "I assume it's about Lawrence." Rook replied as he opened the door for him. "Thank you," he said walking in. "I hear she wants me to go out looking for him." "That doesn't sound like fun." Rook sighed as the two of them started the long journey up a spiraling flight of stone stairs. "Aw no, that means she's probably going to drag me in, the Mitchell twins too." "Nancy as well. Poor girl, Rowena seems to have a particular issue with her." "I noticed that. Did you hear her going off at her the other day?" "No? What on earth happened?" Vincent questioned. "Something about Nancy losing some medication? I don't know but she was properly digging into her. Nancy must have that patience of a saint, I'm not sure if I would have been able to take it." Vincent chuckled as he looked past Rook, out the small windows appearing to their right every few steps. "Nancy is many many things. Patient, is not one of them and I doubt it ever will be." "What does he mean by that?" Rook thought to himself, "Then what would you call Nancy then?" "Clever," Vincent replied, in a much more stern voice, bringing an abrupt end to his under-breath laughter. "Nancy is more than smart enough to know that lashing out at Rowena could not possibly go well for her." "I suppose so." Rook said. The two of them had reached the top of the stairs now, they stood in front of a large wooden door. Maybe two and a half meters tall and a couple of inches thick, lined with iron fillings. "So... you first?" "It seems so," replied Vincent, he turned the iron handle, opened the door and walked in. Rook following him. ---- Vincent ---- The room was large, almost twice the size of Vincent's small cell, that he'd taken to calling his 'office'. However, this was the study of a truly important person, and was decorated as such, with a huge regal red carpet sprawled across the stone brick floor and giant oak bookcases stationed across every wall. The desk sat at the very end of the room, facing the door was kept tidy to a near obsessive extent. Fitting of the obsessive woman that used it, Rowena Myers, who sat behind it scribbling away like she was only a few minutes before, when she sent Rook on yet another errand. She lifted her head from her writing, with a sour look on her face. Making it as clear as possible, that her younger brother had no place in her office. "Good morning Vincent," she muttered, instantly turning her attention back to her work. "'Ello Rowena, how are you this fine day?" Said Vincent, meandering around her study, inspecting anything that caught his eye. "Considerably worse than I could be, would you mind sitting down?" "Of course!" He cheered, as falsely as possible. His fake smile disappeared when he noticed the tiny, rickety wooden chair in front of her desk. "Really now?" He said with one eyebrow raised. "Don't act like you're not used to it. Now please, sit down." "Now she's just toying with me, that or it's some weird broken chair fetish," he thought. "Fine." The tiny chair made a considerable creek when Vincent sat on it, even with him being a light man. Rowena looked up at Rook, standing silent in the doorway, "This is a private conversation Maurice, family matters; you understand." She had a very fake smile on her face as she spoke, that or she enjoyed forcing Rook away. "Yes ma'am," he said with a frown on his face, closing the door behind him. "I think you hurt his feelings." "Maurice is a big boy Vincent, I'm sure he can cope," she muttered, finally putting her pen down and paying attention to Vincent. She was one of those people who looked worse and worse every time they're seen. While only thirty-seven years old, she appeared to be in her late fifties, large black bags under her dark green eyes, she may be the only person who slept less than Vincent. She had graying brown hair that swept down her back, reaching past her shoulders, caught in her dark brown blazer, covering a clean tucked in white shirt. "Now, we need to talk." "Lawrence is missing, I want you to find him!" Vincent said, mockingly mimicking her voice and creating a mouth opening and closing motion with his left hand. "I get it, you lost your lapdog and now you're all pissy." "You should try speaking to me in a much nicer tone Vincent, contrary to your belief I've been rather nice to you. Not to mention I can make that pathetic existence you like to call your life allot more difficult." "Oh really now? Please go on," he said with a grin on his face. "This'll be good." "Well that tiny prison cell of yours, we do need a new stockroom and it just so happens that there's an old broken bench outside with your name on it." "Oh now that's just rude," Vincent sighed, putting his feet up on Rowena's desk. There she was with the broken chairs again, Vincent couldn't help but question his sister's mental health in his thoughts. "Do you treat Patty like this too?" "The way in which I may or may not treat Patrick is none of your concern, besides I don't recall you treating him too nicely this morning?" "I don't recall you being there." "True but I recall our younger brother whom I care for dearly, reporting back to me with a bruised neck. Now why would you do that to him? What did he ever do to you?" Oh what a poor choice of words, I knew Pat was under her orders. Vincent finally took his feet of Rowena desk, much to her relief. "I don't like delivery men Rowena, if you wanted to see me, I would appreciate it if you got off your fat wobbling lardy carpet and told me yourself." "Well I'm sorry Vincent, I'm sorry I can't make time for everyone here! Do you know how many people we have plodding around the Tower of London? Forty Vincent, forty! Forty confused human beings wandering around, practically blind asking for my direction with every damn thing they do. You have no idea how much work this requires! Your cell doesn't give a very clear outlook on the world around you. So I apologize if I struggle to find time to come and get you myself. I-" "Apology accepted!" Vincent interrupted. "Just try a little harder next time," he put his feet back up on her desk, in the most mocking manor physically possible. "Anyway, I digress; why am I here?" Rowena stuttered, she expected a bit more of a reaction from him, she could never have foreseen him to just shake it off. "Well, I suppose your original jab was correct, this is about Lawrence's disappearance and yes I do want you to go and have a look for him." "Yeah sure, why not? I'll have a gander for him." "Splendid, I'll trust you with forming a se-" "Of course I have a few conditions." Vincent interrupted for a second time, with a grin larger than life. "Ugh, of course you do," she growled "What?" "Well number one: My office is rather small and Harry doesn't really need his now does he?" "You're not having Harry's office." "Oh for God's sake, fine, just know that you can't coddle his corpse forever. Okay number two: You have to get Patrick to get off my back about my medication. "That can be arranged, just don't expect to be let out of your current house arrest situation any time soon." "I can cope," Vincent said with laughter in his voice. "Now, as for number 3: I'd like to do something around here. Can I have a job?" "Now, that's not conducive to your previous request, is it? If you want a job you can have one but you need to be medicated. I'm not letting a paranoid schizophrenic like you out of your cell untended, let alone giving you an important job." "Oh please," he rasped. "I taught at Oxford University unmediated, I already had an office here before all this happened! I'm not some lunatic who can't stand upright without a nurse next to me. Rowena... please. You know I care about preserving our History, give me the resources and let me look after this place." Rowena sat back into a dark red office chair, deep in thought. "Let's say I agreed to this. What resources would you need?" "Nothing that we would value, some polish a few different types of oil. We are living in a place teaming with history, we can't just lose it all and I'm the only one here who could preserve it." "How about this then, you go and look for Lawrence and we can trial this idea of yours. I will assign Nancy to watch you for the first week and she will report to me at the end of the day. After that I'll make a decision on whether you're fit to continue your endeavour. If the reports are good perhaps we can talk about you moving out of your cell." She held her hand out to Vincent, leaning across the table. "Deal?" For the first time in years Vincent was truly happy he rushed out of his chair and shook her hand. "Thank you Rowena." "Good, I'll leave it to you who you choose to take with you." She said, slumping back into her chair. "I assume we're done here?" "One more thing." "And what might that be?" Vincent walked over to one of the bookshelves and inspected the contents "You borrowed the Harry Potter collection from me awhile ago, can I have them back?" "Oh, er - yes, of course." "Thanks," he said, pulling five books out of the case "Christ I hope Rowling's not dead, I'm still waiting for book six." "Yes, me too." She said, reolling her dark green eyes. "It would be a shame." He picked up the collecting of books in one had the carefully walked to the door, opening it with the other, only to see Rook waiting outside for him. "Anything else?" He said looking back at her. "Um yes, Rook be a dear and fetch Patrick for me, I want a word with him." "Yes ma'am," he replied as Vincent passed through the door closing it behind him. She can't be telling the truth but this is my best shot, Vincent reminded himself. "So shall we go then?" "Sure," Rook replied, as they both started their journey back down the stairs. "So what did she want?" "Exactly what I said, she wants me to go look for Lawrence, apparently I can choose who goes with me." "Hehe, good luck finding someone who will go with you." Rook tittered, abruptly stopping his laughter when he noticed Vincent looking straight at him. "Aw, son of a bitch." "Thanks man, I can always count on you," he said, patting Rook on the back. "Yeah, yeah." He sighed, "so who else are you bringing with you?" "I suppose the Mitchell's will help us, Wayne is a better shot than all of us combined. I could always wake Nancy up too." "Yeah I guess. So what's with the Harry Potter books?" "You think Nancy will just come along out of the goodness of her heart? It's called incentive." "There are other ways you could bribe Nancy y'know?" Rook turned to Vincent with one eyebrow raised. "That's a low blow Rook, I thought you were above such hurtful taunts." Vincent said turning away from him. "Our relationship is completely platonic, I trust you know that." "Oh I know that, I can't say the same for her though." The two of them got to a black iron door, leading to the outside. Rook partway opened it and allowed Vincent to walk through. "Thanks." "You're welcome," Rook replied, walking out behind him. "So this is where we break off then?" "Yes it is." "Alright, I'll go get Nancy and the Mitchell's. I'll stop off at Barnes's place too, while I'm at it. I'll meat you here, when I've got Nancy." "Okay, I can do that." "Thanks mate, I really appreciate this." "I know you do, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find Patrick." Rook and Vincent exchanged a final wave, as Rook walked away from him, finally leaving Vincent's sight when he turned a corner. "Well, then," Vincent said to himself "There's no way this is going to be easy." He looked up at a large tower, light emanating from every window but one. He knew that was Nancy's room. She's not going to like this, not one bloody bit and I don't think a couple of books are going to sway her on it. To be continued... ---- Characters ---- Vincent Myers Maurice Rook Rowena Myers Patrick Myers (Mentioned) Lawrence Myers (Mentioned) Nancy Brodmir (Mentioned) Barnes Fooks (Mentioned) Wayne Mitchell (Mentioned) Duncan Mitchell (Mentioned) ---- Deaths None. ---- Trivia First appearance of Rowena Myers. First appearance of Maurice Rook. First mention of Nancy Brodmir. First mention of Wayne Mitchell. First mention of Duncan Mitchell. First mention of Barnes Fooks. Category:Issues Category:Strife Issues Category:Strife Category:Pestilence Category:CamTheWoot